Zero to Hero
by Prime627
Summary: Orion Pax is a dataclerk with big dreams, but no room to grow. So when Megatronus rises in the Pits of Kaon, Orion jumps at the opportunity to change the world, and he finds himself on a quest to save it (Due to an outburst in a review about Orion Prime)
1. Chapter 1

**I'm writing this due to this outburst in one of the reviews of another story:** it's NOT Orion Prime it's Orion Pax. **Know this. If I did not know what I was talking about, I would not have put in in the story.**

Orion Pax woke up. He sat up and rubbed his optics, yawning. He had to get up or risk missing his shift at the Hall of Records. So he hopped out of his berth and prepped himself in his personal wash racks. He didn't bathe as often as his friends did, and at one point he had been actually concerned, but they worked below Cybertron's surface. He was basically something pretty to look at as he went through files and sorted them from the beginning of one day to the end of it. Mechs and femmes in training went Underground for fieldtrips. They did not often come to the Hall. If they did, they were quiet save the "ooh"s and "awe"s as they watched the dataclerk in his "natural environment".

Orion felt like he was in a zoo exhibit rather than in the Hall. He expected the tour guide to list his stats as well, what he did every day from beginning of his shift to the end, but the group moved on while he thought these things.

He stepped through the Hall's doors and walked right to his station where he logged in and greeted the Master Archivest when he walked down the aisles to check and make sure every clerk was in his place, which seemed rather pointless. Everyone was always in their place every day.

Orion looked out his window and watched the people of Cybertron walk around to get to their jobs, homes... He caught sight of the High Council's building, the Prime's Office, and the Thirteen's memorial, places he would love to visit, but he couldn't. They were closed to the public when he got off of work, and a dataclerk couldn't exactly walk into the Prime's Office to take a peek around, and the security officers for the High Council would usher him out faster than he had gotten in.

He sighed and went about organizing the files and news that always seemed to come pouring in. Not for the first time, he wondered if there would be a chance for him to rise up and have more privelages that some bots were born with.


	2. Chapter 2

Orion checked the news of the day, just to stay informed with what was going on. _Looks like the usual sparkdays, some deaths..._ He took a moment to mourn them, though he didn't know them. They were ancient, like all dead on Cybertron were, and he wished he could have spoken to them and learned what they had to teach. Then he read the biggest article. A gladiator getting one of the bigger articles? Unheard of!

The more he read, the more he wanted to visit this self-named Megatronus, who took the nickname of The Fallen as his own in place of his birthname: A-865. Orion thought it was very pretty, very unique, but Megatronus obviously had a different opinion if he changed it.

Curious, Orion looked up the gladiator and found an article about the life of gladiators. He decided to read the article, something that he had been forced to agree to not to.

 _ **You all think that gladiators are strong, powerful. But you are wrong. When a gladiator is born, when a gladiator is**_ **chosen** _ **, it is placed in a cell. Starved, until it will do whatever its "guardians" tell it to. You think all the gladiators are mechs, but we had a couple femmes before they died in their cells. They couldn't make it past the first step. You see, after the babies are starved, their guardians want to make sure that they are obedient, so the babies are injected with slave coding. And you thought there were no such things left, didn't you?**_

 _ **Slave coding takes away the baby's own thoughts and feelings any time their assigned master is in sight, which is unfortunate because masters are always in sight of their slaves while they are awake and alert. This is where the remaining femmes die. Femmes are resiliant, and refuse to be broken. Something about them makes them partially immune to the slave coding, so their masters take them out back. The shots given to the femmes' helms echo around the chambers as the newest mechlings are dropped in the formerly occupied cells and are starved.**_

 _ **When the mechlings show first signs of aggression due to provoking and prodding and the master being removed from the room, the mechlings are let out to face Brutus, Shockwave's latest beast, one that leaves one out of a thousand opponents alive. The survivor of that fight is placed in his cell and rewarded by the master with one, jellied energon cube. The mechling grows up only knowing that fighting and surviving means getting fed, and then learning that fighting and winning means living.**_

 _ **The only reason that I am alive is because I have risen above my master and defeated him in battle. Thus, I am one of the owners of the Pits of Kaon, and I soon will begin to shut it down. You will have to find somewhere else to cheer for the deaths of children...**_

Orion stopped reading there, sitting down as he sighed. Curious, he skipped to the end.

 _ **When the Pits is shut down, Cybertron will be safe and those who have been exiled because of the caste they had been born into will receive the right to choose. I may go to the Thirteen's memorial, but can a healer? Can a dataclerk? No! Because they are born into lower castes and are not allowed. But I will change that. I will change Cybertron.**_

 _ **I will be Prime.**_

Such high ambitions for a gladiator, Orion thought. He tapped his digits on the desk, then glanced at the clock. His shift would be over soon. He supposed one visit with this Megatronus will not hurt anyone...


	3. Chapter 3

Orion walked to the Pits of Kaon after his shift ended. The dataclerks were only allowed to socialize with their coworkers once every month as a "special treat" for being "so well behaved". Orion didn't know if Alpha Trion was being serious or sarcastic. But, whatever the mech had meant by it, the stairs up to the Hall were empty. Orion made a beeline to Kaon and simply followed the ecstatic screaming and cheering and wails of pain. Orion wondered if the mechlings were being broken in today.

When he arrived, there were guards, which wasn't uncommon. He wasn't surprised when they laughed at his badge that announced he was a DATACLERK, and he didn't even protest when they shoved him back so that a PHOTOGRAPHER could get through with his friend, the STREET-CLEANER. Orion dusted off his armor, and was about to walk away when a voice made him stiffen.

"What is going on out here? What is so funny?" A silver mech stood behind the guards and his gaze locked with Orion's. This mech, Orion realized, was Megatronus. "Men, why is that mechling picking himself off the ground? He should be given the highest respects. Come here, boy..."

Orion scurried to him obediently, glancing up at the guards, but they didn't look at him. He was accepted. He nearly cheered, but he didn't want to lose Megatronus so soon.

When it came time to buy his ticket, Orion fished around for the pay, but Megatronus waved the femme off.

"He is a special friend of mine. He is always welcome here." He laughed then, and Orion felt as though he was truly with a friend.

"Tell me, young one," Megatronus began as he sat down in a reserved seat. He pulled Orion into the empty one beside his. "What brings you here?"

"To talk to you, actually. I read your article about the treatment of gladiators and-"

But Megatron was staring at his badge. "You broke the rules?" He looked Orion in the optic, raising an optic ridge. He made an impressed face and turned back to look at the fighting bots. No mechlings, Orion saw, and he relaxed. "Anyway, continue..."

"I was wondering, how do you propose to make your radical ideas work?"

"Eventually, and with such a thrust forward that mechs and femmes don't know how to cover it up. I plan to just...let the problem come to a head...by using dynamite and acid."

Orion frowned, but nodded a little bit as he watched the mechs fight. Neither seemed to be winning, and then one of them changed his physical form. "What...?"

Megatron didn't even blink. "Those are the Amalgami. We have a few femmes, but they are simply used as breeders...for now."

Orion looked at him. "I thought femmes didn't live long..."

"Not in the Pits, but they work rather well in padded rooms. Amalgami are wild and can turn on themselves, so we keep mirrors _away_ from the lovely things. Would you like to see them?"

Orion was caught up in the fight, too caught up to respond for a moment. "No...I'd rather...talk about...your ideas." He looked at him. "I'm interested. I am a dataclerk, and while I may search for documents and am allowed to sort them, I may not read."

"How may you sort them without reading?" Megatron stared at him with piercing blue optics, sighing softly. "This is why," he said at last, "Cybertron must change. We have grown older in a young planet."

Orion nodded and they fell silent again, but they were closer, leaning to the other and letting their helms brush as they made small comments and small talk about the changes Cybertron needed.

"No more castes."

"No more separating."

"New leader."

"New Prime?"

"New Prime."

"Who?"

"Me."

"That's right."

"Megatron Prime."

Orion didn't really like that at first, but it gradually warmed up to him and he nodded. "I like the sound of that, Megatronus."

Megatronus shook his servo as the dataclerk went to leave, then the silver mech said something that he would never forget. "I welcome you into my faction of fighters, Orion Pax. And, please, call me Megatron..."


	4. Chapter 4

Soundwave was a gladiator. He looked frail and easy to beat, but he took in everything, though his optics were failing and his face was scared. His friend, Shockwave, was crafting a visor for him that would increase his vision and reflexes. Megatron cheered him on, Soundwave being one of the more trusted mechs above Orion.

Orion sat beside him in their usual chairs and he cheered Soundwave on as well. What he didn't know was that Soundwave was breaking in a couple of the mechlings.

When the babies were pushed out to be faced with Soundwave, Orion looked at Megatron in fear. The silver mech merely grinned at him.

"The others love this. You'll see. You'll learn to love it, too. This, Orion, is the way Cybertron works. The younger ones are abused. Only the strong survive."

Orion watched with wide optics as the mechlings were attacked mercilessly, the runt of the split-spark twins being snapped in half in front of his brother. Soundwave looked at Megatron and tipped his helm. Megatron shook his helm and the remaining brother was killed. The crowd went wild. Orion left.

Megatron caught up with him. "Orion, where are you going?"

"You are just like the others!" He pointed to the still-roaring crowd.

"Orion, this is life. You wanted to understand how Cybertron worked, and then when you see it, you freak out and run out like a little sparkling. I know it's scary, but it's how life here is right now. Now, I know that you can communicate with the High Council. I know Alpha Trion has a tie with them."

Orion looked up at him. Then he nodded a bit and he sighed. "I'll see what I can do..."

Then he pulled away from his friend, who might not be his friend after all, and he walked to a Cyberbar where he could sit down with his friends, Jazz and Arcee, who were INTERVIEWERs and CARETAKERs. Jazz flagged Orion down and he smiled as his friend sat down beside him.

Arcee reached across to touch Orion's servo. "Orion, you look pale..."

"I went to the Pits and-"

Jazz's optics lit up. "You went to the Pits? Who won?"

Orion murmured, "Soundwave did..."

"Against who?"

"Two mechlings."

And so, Orion told his friends what exactly went on in the Pits.

Arcee, who was close to everyone on Cybertron and one of the highly respected group of femmes, pressed her servo to her mouth to keep from crying out. Jazz fixed his glare to the table and he spun his empty cube around before he looked at Orion.

"Orion, the way I see it, is that it's a race. And there are two opponents. You and this Megatron."

Orion blinked sad optics at him.

"Who are you going to let win?"

Orion's optics hardened and he stood. "I'll make a meeting with the Council alright...but it won't just be for Megatron."

Arcee clung to Orion as the trio walked to the High Council's building. Because Jazz and Arcee were of high castes, Orion was admitted in.

"Sirs," he began as he knelt before the High Council. "I would like to request an election of a Prime."

Unlike the other mechs and femmes, the High Council didn't laugh at him. They were interested in what the dataclerk had to say so far.

"And it will be between myself and the gladiator Megatron."

Now the High Council shifted in their seats, frowning at the dataclerk.

A dataclerk for Prime? Unheard of! But the young mech held such promise that the High Council was drawn to him, and the mech standing in the doorway as he nodded.

Alpha Trion made a small chirping noise of consent.

The last of the Thirteen had a major sway on the Council.

They agreed to listen to Megatron and to Orion.

One would be Prime. The other would not. One would destroy the world, and the other would save it.


	5. Chapter 5

Orion watched as Megatron preached about a better Cybertron. He had been doing this for a good time, and so far, Orion had agreed with everything he said...until Megatron started suggesting several things that would result in chaos: Orphanages shut down, no government except the Prime, no rules except what the Prime says, jails emptied and destroyed...

Orion jumped forward, unable to restrain himself.

"Wait! That is not the way Primus intended Cybertron! He created us and the Thirteen to be in his image, yes? Do you think he would shut down the orphanages and empty the jails? He would want everyone safe and sound, and with the orphanages, rules, and jails gone, we cannot do that, no matter how hard we tried. I believe Cybertron would be safer with more jails, more orphanages...We keep 'bots safe _because_ there are those things. We must support what does not need change and change what no one really likes, like the castes. I am heavily restricted as I am a dataclerk. I cannot do certain things or else I will die for 'breaking the rules'. I would be replaced and the things I had done would be forgotten. That is not the way anyone wants to go, forgotten and unimportant. Everyone has value and everyone is important, so why not allow them to move into the profession that they feel they are suited for, where they feel like they can help and influence instead of simply going on day-to-day with no change, no meaning... We are not machines. We are _Autobots_ , and we were made for so much more."

The High Council was silent, staring down at the dataclerk with foggy optics. Orion ducked his helm and looked at Megatron. Megatron's blue optics were darkening to red and he was growling.

"You wait until I get my servos around your scrawny neck!"

"Do not speak that way to your new Prime," the High Council leader said as he stood. Orion recognized him as Halogen. "You should kneel and show your respect. All of you should."

All of you? As Orion looked around at the gathered crowd and gasped at the way everyone was moving to one knee out of respect, Megatron was laughing hysterically.

"You cannot appoint a _librarian_ as a Prime! Have your circuits melted?"

Orion narrowed his optics. "Do not speak to your elders like that, Megatron. They treated you respectfully, and so you should."

Megatron laughed in his face, then stormed away to the door. His followers jumped up and followed him. "This is not over, Orion Pax! I will come for you. You have five hundred years to make your decision! Until then, you can either plan your death or surrender at any time."

Then Megatron was gone, leaving with all but a servofull of mechs and femmes. Orion sighed and his shoulders dropped. He looked up at the Councilors.

"You have proven yourself worthy, Orion, but we cannot make you into the Prime that you will become. All Primes that we name Prime go after the Matrix, but only the pure of spark and the worthy find it. We would present it to you if we had it, but it was lost with the death of Zeta Prime."

Orion's optics widened. The former Prime, Sentinel Prime, didn't have the Matrix? He had always thought Sentinel did, the way everyone respected him...

"If you find the Matrix, the Matrix will discover your true name, but until then, you will be known to us as Orion Prime."

It was just a name, a name that didn't even mean anything except that he was Prime and he was named by the Councilors, but it still made his supporters chant and drop to their knees to pray to Primus and thank him...

He looked around them and he suddenly felt as if everything was dropped on his shoulders. What had he gotten himself into?


	6. Chapter 6

Orion was sent on a quest. Every Prime in history went on this quest, and only a few actually succeeded finding the legendary Matrix of Leadership. Sentinel Prime had not, but Zeta Prime had, the Prime before Sentinel.

The Matrix promised a great physical and spiritual change, and the Matrix would unlock his true self, whatever that meant...

The quest had to work around preparing for battle, and while Orion tried to look where exactly the Matrix laid, every possible clue was a dead-end.

And then word came to him that the Core was poisoned. Orion had to save the Core, had to save Primus, so he put Jazz in charge and he ran to the nearest vent to the Core, the Well of AllSparks. He hesitated before jumping down it, skittering down the slopes and free-falling where there was none. Then he was caught by a spiritual energy, as if he was being embraced by a carrier. He found himself hovering in front of the pulsing Core, purple fusing with blue.

 **Orion Prime.**

Orion watched the Core, bowing his helm in respect for a moment. "I have come to save you, Primus, to purge the poison from your system."

 **You have come too late, Orion. The damage done by the Dark Matter of Unicron is irreversible, but I can combat the Matter. It will take millions of years, but it can be done. I will contact you through the Matrix when I have healed completely.**

He sighed. "Creator, I do not have the Matrix...I cannot be contacted when you heal."

 **You do not understand. You do not have the Matrix because you have yet to earn it, but right now, the Matrix is struggling to leave its hold in me. The Matrix chooses the Prime, and it has chosen you.**

Orion gasped and he watched as the Core released the Matrix. The legendary object buried itself in his chest and Orion's optics shorted out from the force.

 _Orion woke up and looked around. He was surrounded by spirits. He looked around them, getting up immediately._

 _Thirteen of them, the largest, moved to circle him and they each touched his helm. Each touch, he expected soothing relief, but he was instead greeted by pain. The last touch, though, stroked his helm tenderly and he looked up. It was the only touch that hadn't given him pain._

 _He gasped when he saw the mech's face. The mech knelt and it was if he was staring into a distorted mirror. It was_ him _._

 _The mech touched his face again, putting his thumb over his optics. Orion gasped and received powerful memories of fear, pain, and, the most vivid, of love._

 _Orion opened his optics and he stood. The other mech was gone, but he was taller. He felt stronger. He smiled at the ones surrounding him, and he knew them by name. He greeted each one, they smiled at him, and then they were gone_.

Orion slumbed in the Core's hold. He felt exhausted and he whined softly.

 **Rise, Optimus Prime, the Last of the Primes, the Thirteenth Reborn.**

Orion lifted his helm. Optimus Prime? The Thirteenth Reborn? The Last of the Primes? Were these his titles? His true self?

The Core sent him back to the top of the Well and right in front of Jazz.

"Orion, the planet is glowing purple! We can't stay here. Megatron poisoned it!"

Optimus touched Jazz's shoulder, gently. Jazz gasped.

"You've changed..."

"I have the Matrix."

"No more Orion Pax?"

"No more Orion Prime, either."

"Who are you know?"

The mech lifted his gaze to the stars. "My name is Optimus Prime, and we are in dire need of help..."

 **Tada! End of Zero to Hero. Obviously, the Autobots leave, touchdown on Earth, and the chaos begins again. I hope you see now why I believe in Orion Pax - Orion Prime - Optimus Prime. This part was actually pretty fun to write, because I based the Thirteen Prime's scene after every scene in the Warriors series were a cat goes and gets his nine lives and his name. Optimus Prime didn't get additional lives, but he did get a new name, so I jumped all over that bit.**

 **I'm** _ **really**_ **interested in hearing what you guys have to say. I wanted to add some Arcee and Optimus romancy stuff, but I didn't, because I was getting really anxious to finish this story and stuff.**

 **Okay, okay.. So I have a question for you guys:**

 **I'm seriously looking for ideas on what to write about, and I like doing pairings and that kind of stuff, so I want to know what you guys like. I keep asking this question, but everytime I ask, I get more and more ideas that are downright** _ **awesome**_ **!**

 **Waiting for new ideas!**

 **-Prime627**


End file.
